As the spectral riders swiftly made their approach, the mage quickly made struggled attempts, in an effort to stand back upon her feet. This was certainly not the first time she'd suffered injuries before, however, an arrow straight through the hand was an unfamiliar pain she'd never had experience dealing with before, neither ever wanted experience dealing with again. Stumbling, as she came to her feet, she continued to comfort her wounded left hand with her right hand. She found it quite difficult to stand up completely straight. The rider approached upon the group with such immense speed, however, that the mage was completely sure that she was doomed to share a trampled fate with the two spectral cats. Taking a step back, she stared at the speeding entity with accepting eyes, expecting her imminent death. That was, until, there was the sudden sound of crackling fire, and the young girl was suddenly seen diving straightforward at the speeding entity with unnatural force.

The blood-curdling scream of the spectral rider after the elemental blow, caused even the mage to wince, as she witnessed the strange supernatural fire burn into the very core of the spectral being. Both greatly awed, and greatly intrigued, a curious eyebrow rose in response from the unexpected scene. Flame capable of burning the very spirits of spectral beings, who had no physical flesh capable of feeling pain? Was such an anomaly even possible? And yet, here she was witnessing it. The mage was well aware of holy fire, which was commonly used for dealing with the undead, yet this fire looked absolutely nothing holy fire. There seemed to be nothing holy about it; menacing was a more suitable description.
Indeed, it was quite an unfamiliar phenomenon, which even the magically shrewd and well experienced mage herself had never witnessed before. Her magically obsessive curiosity instinctively found itself surfacing, as she took a moment to observe the event, pondering the mysteries behind the unfamiliar green flame, curious as to whether it was a spell of some sort she could possibly transcribe, some inherited ability, or something much more profound which even the mage herself had no capability of replicating. The hypotheses were intriguing. The loud declarations of the mercenary, however, quickly brought the mage's hypothesizing mind back to the current situation at hand. "Portal.." The mage repeating back rather absentmindedly, her mind attempting to recollect itself. "Portal!" She repeated back again, clarifying that she was back into the present moment.

Before any portal was to be opened, however, one matter would need to be taken care of first. Leaning over, the mage ventured to partake in what would perhaps be one of the most painful experiences of her life. Placing her left wrist on the ground, she place a boot on one end of the arrow, while gripping of the other end with her uninjured right hand. With momentary force, a crack could be heard, as she broke a large piece of the arrow off. "SWEET MOTHER OF HEAVENLY CELESTIAL BEINGS!" The mage painfully exclaimed aloud, rather angrily toned, alongside numerous other curses and swearings, as she frantically hopped up and down while recomforting her left hand, and sporadically walked back in forth, in an effort to distract her attention away from the immense pain. The arrow, while now broken into a smaller piece, was still lodged into her hand. The mage seemed to opt at not pulling it out. Whatever her reasoning was, the decision was undoubtedly the best. Pulling out the arrow would've most likely caused increased bleeding, without the projectile to block the wound, and the mage had neither the materials, nor the time to wrap and care for her pierced hand. She was skilled in a number of magics, yet healing was not one of them.

Eventually walking over to the rescued scroll upon the ground, she snatched it up, in order to begin the previously interrupted process once again. Greatly fatigued, magically drained, painfully injured, and greatly annoyed, this would most likely be her last possibility of being able to muster enough force, in order to open a magical portal for the group's escape, before she'd need to completely rest for the day. At this point, if the group could not escape through this final portal, there would be no more portals for them to escape through, and death would most likely be imminent.
With the scroll hovering on it's own, in mid-air once again, she rose her single, uninjured hand, having no choice but to fully rely on the mercenary and younger girl to fend off any future interruptions. The mage's palm began to glow with it's signature scarlet aura once again, displaying her intent. Fortunately, this time, since the portal had been interrupted, and there had been no energy used in order to transport anyone through it, since no one had a chance to go through it, a delayed recharging of the spell would not be required this time. However, the power and size of the portal, would undoubtedly be less powerful, and smaller.
The channeling time for the portal also took noticeably longer, as the mage only had one hand to channel magical energy with this time. As sweat viciously poured from her noticeably strained face, the mage's eyes struggled to stay open, communicating her struggle in casting such a magically demanding spell for the third time, in such a short duration. With low, strained grunts, something like a portal eventually formed. However, this portal was noticeably less potent than her previous conjurings, revealing her great fatigue. Falling to one knee, the mage lowly groaned, as she struggled to maintain the groups last hope of survival from dissipating. "Go with haste!" The mage commanded wearily. She would not be able to keep the portal open for too long.
Looking up, however, it appeared that the group were not the only ones who had a mind to exit from the battlefield, into the camp. For it would also be at that moment, than one of the spectral riders immediately turned his attention away from his current task, upon witnessing the newly formed portal, and was now hastily on his way towards entering it. Indeed, if he managed to succeed in his task, the consequences for those at the camp, would undoubtedly be dire.

The adventure had undoubtedly been a greatly arduous one, which tested the very limit's of each adventure's mind, body, and willpower, as they faced the very shadow of death itself. Yet, whether through a powerful stroke of luck, or the very intervention of the gods themselves, the three had somehow managed to survive through such a chaotic ordeal. Indeed, the undead had proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with, and not threats to be lightly considered. Yet, the kind-hearted and compassionate young dreamwalker, the ever-focused and strong willed mercenary, and the ambitious and determined mage had successfully worked together, in order to survive and escape the relentless onslaught of undead legions.

The camp's residents were undoubtedly not pleased with the unexpected ordeal which had been brought upon them towards the end of the group's adventure. Although, fortunately enough, not everyone clearly understood how the incident within the camp had exactly taken place. For those who had observed the origins behind the incident, however, spiteful looks of scorn were thrown at the group of three indeed.
Perhaps through such catastrophe, more than just an undead cadaver disintegrated into ash, moral lessons and wisdom according to each individual's experience were also brought back, upon their return to the camp. Additionally, perhaps the mage may have even learned to reflect upon the consequences of her ambitious nature for once…..yet perhaps also not. Only time would tell.

Regardless, in the end, with the dangerous undertaking now at it's culmination, only one final task remained; to search for, and deliver the remains of a fallen relative to it's grieving brother. Whether the deliverance would prove successful in redeeming the mage's name, or relieving the sorrow-hearted brother, the deed had been done, and a promise was kept….mostly anyways.

This concludes the adventure of, 'A Rude Awakening'

((OOC: Good job you two, thanks for keeping up with the thread all the way until the end, and participating in the event together! Was a wonderful story!))